Fireball Lights Up Sky Across Missouri, Illinois, Indiana And Tennessee.

St. Charles County - NewsChannel 5 has gotten reports of a fireball streaking through the sky near St. Charles Thursday night.

As of 9:15 p.m., the American Meteor Society had recorded six reports from people who spotted this fireball in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee between 4:17 p.m. and 4:35 p.m. CST.

One of our Facebook fans, Tim Maune, was able to capture the image on camera.

All of the fireball spotters say there was no sound accompanying the fireball.

So what was it? According to the AMS,
a fireball is another name for a very bright meteor, one with about the
same brightness as Venus in the morning or evening sky.

If you saw the fireball, the AMS wants to hear from you. File a report online, with as many details as you can remember. - KSDK.

Possible Meteor Reported Over Central Iowa.

It probably wasn't Superman who drew central Iowans' eyes to the sky
Thursday evening. A meteor is the more likely explanation for the streak
of light that reportedly lasted just a few seconds.

The National Weather Service was able to catch a ball of light on one of
its cameras in Iowa City, but thinks its footage may show the planet
Venus, which was also visible around the same time.

Kurt Kotenberg of the NWS said the agency has received accounts of people seeing a "fireball."

"We're looking at the reports, also," Kotenberg said. "The interesting
thing's about it, Venus was visible in the sky just after sunset."

Social media posts from Iowans claiming to have seen the potential
meteor indicate it appeared over central Iowa skies about 5:40 p.m.,
although it seems few eyewitnesses had a camera ready.

An early photo sent to WHO-TV and posted on its
website turned out to be a fake, thought to be a doctored 2011 image of a
satellite. A North Carolina-based meteorologist spotted the phony photo
and outed it on Twitter Thursday evening.

Kotenberg said his agency won't be able to determine what the flash of
light was because of its location in the sky. Since it appeared in the
upper part of the atmosphere, the NWS won't be providing an official
report.

"It's not a weather phenomenon," Kotenberg said.

Iowans have started filing reports of the sighting with the American
Meteor Society, a nonprofit organization that works to "promote research
activities of both amateur and professional astronomers who are
directly interested in meteoric astronomy." As of Thursday evening,
several pending reports out of communities across the state had been
made at amsmeteors.org.

Steven Spangler, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa, said this time of December is not a "prominent meteor shower time" but that "sporadic meteors" happen all the time.

Spangler said he goes out to look for meteors every clear night, but tonight he missed his chance. - DesMoines Register.

Streaking Iowa Fireball Breaks Into 3 Pieces.

An amateur meteor spotter caught the moment when a fireball flew
across Iowa's sky Thursday evening. Tim Cline says he has two cameras
pointing at the sky at his Williamson observatory. He says the footage shows a meteor flying north towards Des Moines. Consistent with witness reports, the timestamp puts the bright object flying by at 5:41 p.m.

Channel 13 received several reports of a colorful fireball across the metro and even on the Iowa/Missouri border.

The National Weather Service said they also caught some footage of it. They later backtracked saying the moving object in their video was more likely Venus.

The evening sky was well described by our viewers. Mercedes Sholley posted on the Channel 13 Facebook page,
"I watched it change colors from the yellow red and orange to green
blue and purple right before it sizzled out and went black and I watched
it break off into at least 3 pieces."

Jakob Kranovich also described it, "I literally drove right underneath
it. It looked like a giant firework going sideways. It gave off a bright
green glowing color (I'm dead serious) and broke up and sparks showered
everywhere and faded out. Happened too fast to get a picture and I was
driving as well."

"It was awesome. Unfortunately no pics but I don't think I'll get that image out of my mind," Jamie Croatt commented.

Large Meteor Event Over Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, North Dakota And Ontario.

A large meteor event was seen over at least 10 American states and some parts of Canada.

Initial Meteor Sighting Reports

December 26, 2013 - Dee Vickery West Des Moines, IOWA , USA 1800PM CST. It lasted 5 to 10 seconds. Was moving east to west, and we were driving north. It was white with green and tail was flaring. The Tail was sparking. Was bright as planet Venus.

December 26, 2013 - Judy Saint Louis, MO 5:45PM CST. Lasted 5 seconds. Was moving from the west. Meteor was bright blue to orange. Was as large as the Moon.

December 26, 2013 - Debbie Buffalo. MO USA 17:45PM CST. Lasted less than 20 seconds. It was moving east to west. I was facing north. The object was white/blue/green with orange flames/sparks. It was bright as Venus. Thought it was a plane going down and then lost it behind some trees.

December 26, 2013 - Marj Holt, Missouri 17:45:00 10PM CST. Lasted 10 seconds. I was facing north, the meteor was straight ahead yellow with green, then all yellow before flaming out very bright, then dimming, then out. It was large and bright, with the head tapering to point with sparks.

December 26, 2013 - Chris Irene, SD 5:42:00PM CST. Lasted 5 to 8 seconds in a northeasterly direction. It was green at the end. Same as Venus. The tail was split into several pieces. The object had white light to green with fragmentation. Additionally, it was 10 to 15 degrees north of due east at approximately 15 degrees off the horizon.

December 26, 2013 - E. Mueller Galesburg, IL USA 1740PM CST. Lasted 10 seconds. Moving from north to south. The fireball was white then green. It was as bright as the Moon.

December 26, 2013 - Dan Barber - Grimes, Iowa 1735PM CST. It lasted 15 seconds over central Iowa and was moving in a southeasterly direction. It made no sound. Was white, greenish, bluish in color and left a trail of orange sparks. Was as bright as Venus. It looked quite similar to the meteorite that hit Russia earlier this year. It did not drop in altitude, but burned out.

December 27, 2013 - KENYA - Drought can be a devastating economic blow to anyone engaged in agriculture. But for the Maasai people of East Africa, it can threaten a centuries-old way of life. Cattle mean more than just food to this primitive tribe that still lives life in much the same way as their distant ancestors. Cows represent status, act as currency, provide a means of social interaction and are even necessary for marriage.

A young Maasai boy stands beside his dead calf.

On a recent visit to the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, East Africa, wildlife abounded. But for every giraffe, elephant and zebra I saw I also saw a dead Maasai cow. Dozens of dying, dead and decaying Maasai cattle littered the landscape, not only of the Maasai villages and surrounding lands, but inside the boundaries of the Reserve as well.

When the rains failed to come in late October, herds of cattle that were already on the brink of starvation from the dry season became even weaker and began to die. The Maasai, whose entire culture is centered around their cows, began sneaking their herds onto the protected lands of the Park under the cover of darkness. "Wilson," the son of a Maasai chief in a village adjacent to the Reserve, explained to me that there the cattle can graze freely - although illegally - until just before sunrise, when they sneak them back out of the Reserve before they are discovered by Park rangers. Unfortunately, the Maasai do not always return with the same number of cows they entered with.

Many of the cattle are so undernourished that they expire within the Reserve, while others are simply too weak to return. In fact, there are so many dead carcasses that many lay undisturbed by vultures or hyenas - there is simply more carrion than can be consumed by the Mara's vast population of scavengers.

But when I forced myself to look closer, I noticed something very curious; many of the dying and dead cows did not look "starved." Skinny, yes, but not starkly emaciated as you would expect of a large animal that has succumbed to starvation. It made me wonder if there might be some other, secondary cause of many of these livestock deaths. Perhaps their weakened state of health made them more susceptible to disease. And perhaps it is this "disease" that has deterred the scavengers from clearing their rotting flesh from the landscape.

One of the theories being considered is that the recent zebra and wildebeest migration in September may have introduced disease into the Reserve. While healthy animals may be immune to the sickness, those weakened by malnutrition could fall ill and die, even though their body weight may suggest a healthy animal.

This phenomenon is so recent that it has not yet been properly investigated. But if it continues, it very well could upset the ecological balance of the Mara. If this happens, the Maasai culture may not be the only thing at risk. - Yahoo.

December 27, 2013 - CANARY ISLANDS - Although earthquakes have largely ceased for the moment, the island experiences ongoing rapid inflation and harmonic tremor, both signs that an eruption could be imminent. The inflation in the SE part near El Pinar and La Restinga has reached almost 10 cm in just a few days by now.

Instead of new earthquakes, harmonic tremor (steady low-frequency ground vibration) has appeared 2 days ago and since then been gradually increasing. Both observations, as well as some single long-period earthquakes in the past days, are indicators of magma moving into the system and pressurizing it.

This means that the scenario of a new eruption has become more and more likely. It is impossible to say whether and when a new eruption will occur, but it could happen quickly any time. It would probably begin with a series of stronger earthquakes to open up a conduit.
Based on the inflation and earthquake patterns, the most likely area would be near the 2011 vent near La Restinga, perhaps even on land. In this case, La Restinga would be the village most at risk. The previously detected very high Radon gas emission values also suggest the presence of new magma and pose a health risk particularly in closed low-lying rooms of buildings especially in southern El Hierro. - Volcano Discovery.

Something is going on under El Hierro, and recent events suggest this time things could be dramatically different. Two years after a new underwater volcano appeared offshore of El Hierro in the Canary Islands, earthquake swarms and a sudden change in height suggest a new eruption is brewing near the island’s villages, officials announced today (Dec. 27).

After the announcement, one of the largest temblors ever recorded at the volcanic island, a magnitude-5.4 earthquake, struck offshore of El Hierro at 12:46 p.m. ET (5:46 p.m. local time) today, the National Geographic Institute reported. Residents on the island reported strong shaking, and the quake was felt throughout the Canary Islands, according to news reports.

The earthquake’s epicenter was 13 miles (22 kilometers) deep. Before the earthquake struck early this afternoon, the island’s volcano monitoring agency, Pelvolca, had raised the volcanic eruption risk for El Hierro to “yellow.” This warning means that activity is increasing at the volcano, but no eruption is imminent. A similar burst of activity prompted a yellow warning in June 2012, but the volcano soon quieted down. - Live Science.

December 27, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Here are the latest updates on the outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus across the United States:

Outbreak Of Two Dozen Cases In Chicago.

Nearly two dozen cases of the potentially deadly H1N1 flu virus have been confirmed in the Chicago area, CBS 2 has learned. Finding the flu virus among patients at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood is keeping special machines working overtime right now. Seven patients at Loyola tested positive for Influenza A on Christmas Eve. Five of them had the H1N1 strain known as swine flu.

They’ve detected a sudden burst of the 2009 swine flu spreading right here in the Chicago area. Microbiologist Paul Schreckenberger says last week alone, 21 patients tested positive for Influenza A. All but one of those cases were the 2009 H1N1 swine flu. “We don’t know why it’s emerging,” Schreckenberger says. He says people may have gotten a false sense of security over the last couple of flu seasons, which were comparatively mild. In Texas, the rush is on for flu shots. The very flu shots that Texans Dustin Wright, and his wife, Ashley, never received. Dustin was hit with H1N1 flu strain, or swine flu, and he died Dec. 5. “You don’t think it will happen to you,” Ashley says. H1N1 is causing 80 percent of the flu infections this year in Texas.

It’s the same strain that triggered a nationwide pandemic in 2009. But at that time, it was new. Now, it’s not, and the current flu vaccine offers protection. “That really is, in terms of prevention and protection, the best method, in terms of reducing transmission or spread of influenza,” Rush University Medical Center physician Alexander Tomich says. But remember, it takes two weeks after you get the shot to build up the anti-bodies that provide protection from the flu. So, the earlier you get it the better. According to the Centers for Disease Control, less than half of all Americans get a flu shot each year. - CBS.

H1N1 Claims Another Life Iin Texas.

A Houston teenager has died of the H1N1 flu virus. Health officials aren’t divulging much in the way of details but they are sounding the alarm. “Well people should be concerned because influenza is a preventable illness. It’s a miserable illness. Most people will do just fine and recover in about a week but some people could go on and develop a very serious illness,” said Kathy Barton with the City of Houston’s Department of Health and Human Services.

Or as in this sad case, die. As a matter of fact thirty thousand people will die of influenza in this country this year and the strain that is showing up the most in labs this year is the H1N1. Houston now has its first death. Harris County has had three deaths. Montgomery County has four suspected and Jefferson County has had two cases but no deaths. The flu season has been bad this year and especially bad in Texas. Officials are reporting a spike in flu cases in Texas with more than a dozen deaths in the Houston area, most of which were caused by the H1N1 strain that’s also known as the swine flu.

According to a count compiled by KHOU in Houston, 13 people have died in the Greater Houston, including a teenager. According to the Centers for Disease Control it is widespread. But it has tapered off over the Christmas vacation. Officials expect to see more cases as kids head back to school so here’s some advice. Get flu shot. Practice good social hygiene. Maintain good space between you and other people. Cover your cough or sneeze. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face and if sick stay home. Health officials really hammer home point number one. “The H1N1 is covered in this year’s vaccine formulation and it’s important for kids to get their shot’s because children are infections for two to three days before they start showing symptoms,” said Barton. And the H1N1 is most prevalent in kids. - FOX.

Infant Dies In Michigan, Cases Increasing.

A central Michigan infant has died of H1N1 as flu season begins to sweep the state and public health officials step up their calls for vaccination. Earlier today, the Michigan Department of Community Health upgraded the level of flu activity from “local” to “regional” because flu cases have been reported throughout more areas of the state. The uptick of cases reflects a national surge as well, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“H1N1 seems to be rearing its ugly head this year,” said Bob Swanson, director of the immunization division of the Michigan Department of Community Health. “We want to head that off, and the only way to do that is with the vaccine.” Last season, flu killed seven Michigan children, the highest number since 2004, when reporting such deaths became mandatory. And public health officials said they’ve noticed that H1N1, one of the most widely circulated strains this year, seems to target young and middle-age adults – a demographic that might feel immune to the worst effects of flu.

Very often, flu season is most deadly for the very young, elderly people and those with underlying health conditions. The actual number of flu cases is impossible to know. Most aren’t required to be reported. But at least 45 people had been hospitalized for suspected flu by today in eight Michigan hospitals that report data as part of the state’s surveillance effort. As holiday gatherings continue, those numbers are expected to increase.

“We really encourage people to stay home over the holidays if they’re sick, but that’s the time people don’t want to miss out on visiting,” said Oakland County’s health officer, Kathy Forzley. “We’re probably still on the upswing of cases,” said Susan Peters, a state epidemiologist. Last year, about 40.8% of Michiganders older than 6 months were vaccinated, lower than the national average of 45%, the state health department’s Swanson said.

This year, at least 3.3 million doses of the flu vaccine have been shipped to Michigan, far short of what is needed to boost the vaccination rate even to the national average, though more can be shipped, Swanson said. At least 1.7 million were administered by Dec. 20 – about 260,000 more than by the same time in 2012, Swanson said. “Here’s my fear: We wait too long,” he said, noting that the vaccine takes 10 days to two weeks to be effective. - WZZM13.